Gainesville Community Foundation celebrates its success

The Gainesville Community Foundation on Wednesday celebrated the great success it has had in its first decade by handing out its first Legacy Awards.

By Chad SmithStaff writer

With $10 million in assets to dole out to the arts, education, athletics and other parts of the community, the Gainesville Community Foundation met Wednesday to celebrate its success in its first decade — thanks to the generous practices of bequeathing and estate planning.

The foundation and the North Central Florida Estate Planning Council gave out their first Gainesville Legacy Awards on Wednesday to honor the “crucial interaction between the giver, their professional adviser and the organization” receiving the gift, said Barzella Papa, the foundation’s president and CEO.

The adviser award went to Joe Richardson, an accountant with Richardson and Ellison, while the award for the nonprofit recognition went to Haven Hospice, which provides end-of-life care around North Florida.

Haven Hospice’s director, Tim Bowen, said his organization is in a unique position in that its estate donors might be clients and vice versa.

But, Bowen added, “We are one of many in the community that try to do good work.”

The award for donors was given to Davis Rembert, the former owner of United Fuels Corp. and Sprint Stores, and his wife, Judi, for their donations to the local health care system.

“Giving is so important,” Judi Rembert said. “We give in our lives every day. It might be a smile, touching someone. It’s not just the money that’s important.”

But the money goes to a myriad of causes and institutions in the Gainesville area, sometimes well after the donor’s death.

“They say the only thing you take with you when you’re gone is what you leave behind,” said Perry McGriff Jr., the former state representative and city commissioner who is chairman of the foundation.